Shuttlecocks



Sept. 4, 1956 c. J. w. LASHLEY 2,761,685

SHUTTLECOCKS Filed Oct. 27. 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l In l/en for Charles John War/I las/l/ey.

Q 7264a 17 flttamey.

Sept; 4, 1956 c. J. w. LASHLEY 2,751,635

SHUTTLECOCKS Filed Oct. 27, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

er Attorney United States Patent SHUTTLECOCKS Charles J. W. Lashley, Sandwich, England Application October 27, 1953, Serial No. 388,599

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 10, 1952 7 Claims. (Cl. 273-106) The present invention relates to improvements in shuttlecocks.

The invention is directed to the production of a shuttlecock which is of a neat and improved design, is sturdy yet light in construction, and aims to produce a construction which will promote spinning or rotation in flight, and will more quickly return to normal shape after temporary disfiguration.

A shuttlecock according to the present invention is characterised by a skirt having a set of vertically arranged vanes or stems radiating in curved paths in one direction and a set of vertically arranged vanes or stems radiating in curved paths in the reverse direction so as to form a lattice structure, all the vanes having roots or starting points around and near to the lower edge of the skirt.

The skirt and the base may be made as a one-piece moulded structure, or the skirt may be separate from, and secured or anchored to, a base, which latter may be of cork or any other suitable material possessing the necessary degree of resiliency. In the latter case the skirt may be a moulded structure.

The accompanying drawings illustrate examples of carrying into effect the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a skirt split open along the line AB/ A1-B1.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a completed shuttlecock.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing how some of the spaces in the lattice work may be filled in.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are views of variant constructions of lattice structure.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view of another constructional arrangement, and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view of a still further construction.

It is to be understood that any suitable number of vanes may be used to form the lattice structure, the number shown being by way of example only.

In the construction shown by Fig. 1 the outer set of vertically arranged vanes 1, 1a radiate in curved paths from left to right and the inner set of vertically arranged vanes 2, 2a radiate in curved paths from right to left. It will be obvious that this angular radiation could be reversed. The outer set of vanes 1, 1a are superimposed on the inner set of vanes 2, 2a, that is to say, the outer set overlie the inner set completely and do not merge into a common plane. It will be seen that vanes making up each set vary in width, the vanes 1a and 2a being of lesser width than the vanes 1 and 2.

The sets of vanes have roots or starting points around and near to the lower edge of the skirt. In this example the vane of one set is paired with a vane of the other set so as to have common roots indicated by the reference numerals 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The angular settings of the vanes are such that the vanes of the outer set meet the vanes of the inner set at the terminal top ends as indicated at 7.

2,761,685 Patented Sept. 4, 1956 Fig. 2 shows a skirt according to Fig. 1 secured by any suitable means to a base 8. Or the skirt and base may be a one-piece structure.

The cross section of the vanes of the outer set are shaped as to assist rotation or spin in the right direction. For example these may be faceted vanes shaped comparable to the cross section of a buttress screw thread or a V screw thread as shown in Fig. 8, while the cross section of the vanes of the 'inner set are of flat or negative section. By the use of a vane in the form of a V screw thread there are provided oppositely facing facets 1', 1" one or the other of which will face in a direction to impart spin to the shuttlecock when it is in flight.

In the construction shown by Fig. 7 the main body portions 1 and 2 of the two sets of vanes are in the same plane, the outer surfaces of one set of vanes having raised facets 18 extending outwardly of the outer surface of the other set to assist rotation or spin.

Some of the spaces in the lattice work may be filled in partially or wholly. Fig. 3 shows various forms of partial'fillings in the form of ribs 9. These ribs may be interconnected at both ends to the lattice or connected at one end only.

Fig. 4 is a construction of skirt in which main vanes 10 and 11 have secondary vanes or offshoots 12 and 13 branching therefrom, these starting from the main vanes at points towards the lower ends thereof and spreading upwardly.

Fig. 5 is a construction of skirt in which the secondary vanes or offshoots 14 and 15 start from points remote from the roots of the main vanes and spread outwardly to the roots.

Fig. 6 shows a construction in which the outer vanes 16 and the inner vanes 17 do not start from a common root.

Although in the constructions shown the vanes of the outer set meet the vanes of the inner set at the top of the skirt, these may stop short of the meeting points as shown in Fig. 5, so that the part adjacent the top would present in appearance a fringe.

The spaces between the vanes may vary in area, either from the upper end to the lower end of the skirt or vice versa.

The skirt and in some cases the base may be made from a suitable material included in the generic term plastics or of some other suitable plastic material. Synthetic fibre-forming polymeric amides of protein-like structure known under the generic name nylon may be suitable.

It will be seen that in the construction according to Figs. 1 and 2 the spaces in the lattice structure are progressively closed towards the lower edge of the skirt.

It will be apparent that the invention can be variously modified and changed within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A shuttlecock comprising a base, a skirt formed by a set of vertically arranged vanes radiating in curved paths in one direction, and a set of vertically arranged vanes radiating in curved paths in the reverse direction so as to form a lattice structure, all the vanes having roots around and near to the lower edge of the skirt, one of said sets of vanes being outwardly of and superimposed on the other set.

outer set of vanes being superimposed on the inner set of fiat vanes, and all the vanes having roots around and near to the lower edge of the skirt, the outer set of vanes having at least one facet facing in a direction to impart spin to the shuttlecock.

4. A shuttlecock comprising a base, a skirt formed by a set of vertically arranged faceted vanes radiating in curved paths in one direction, and another set of vertically arranged vanes radiating in curved paths in the reverse direction, the two sets of vanes forming a lattice structure, said faceted of vanes extending outwardly of the outer surface of the other set to impart spin to said shuttlecock in flight, all of the vanes having roots around and near to the lower edge of the skirt.

5. A shuttlecock comprising a base, a skirt formed by a set of vertically arranged vanes radiating in curved paths in one direction, and a set of vertically arranged faceted vanes radiating in curved paths in the reverse direction so as to form a lattice structure, said faceted vanes having at least one facet extending outwardly of the other set of vanes and facing in a direction to impart spin to said shuttlecock in flight, and all the vanes having roots around and near to the lower edge of the skirt.

6. A construction as set forth in claim 5 in which each vane of said faceted set of vanes is V shape in section.

7. A shuttlecock comprising a base, a skirt formed by a set of vertically arranged vanes radiating in curved paths in one direction, and a set of vertically arranged vanes radiating in curved paths in the reverse direction, the main body portions of said sets of vanes being in the same plane so as to form a lattice structure, each of the vanes of one of said sets of vanes having a portion extending outwardly of the plane of said sets of vanes to form an outwardly projecting faceted surface for imparting spin to the shuttlecock in flight, all of said vanes having roots around and near to the lower edge of the skirt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 163,367 Carlton May 22, 1951 2,485,420 Timpe Oct. 18, 1949 2,525,332 Alger et al Oct. 10, 1950 2,540,079 Ferguson Feb. 6, 1951 2,556,029 Cohan June 5, 1951 2,626,807 Carlton Jan. 27, 1953 2,632,647 Carlton Mar. 24, 1953 

